Le Pen still hop­ing for vic­tory

MARINE LE Pen, the far-right French pres­i­den­tial can­di­date, stepped down as leader of the Front Na­tional (FN) party on Mon­day.

The move came after she reached the fi­nal round of the elec­tion.

The 48-year-old daugh­ter of party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen said her ap­peal should stretch be­yond the party.

Hav­ing joined the NF aged

18, she was ap­pointed to its na­tional ex­ec­u­tive in 2000 and took over from her fa­ther as leader in 2011.

Le Pen has long tried to dis­tance her­self from the party’s du­bi­ous legacy, in­clud­ing its an­ti­semitism.

She has re­moved NF in­signia from her cam­paign posters and rarely refers to the party when in­ter­viewed. Her ef­forts have brought her into con­flict with her fa­ther, who this week crit­i­cised her cam­paign. In a ra­dio in­ter­view he said: “If I’d been in her place I would have had a Trump-like cam­paign, a more open one, very ag­gres­sive against those re­spon­si­ble for the deca­dence of our coun­try, whether left or right.” French com­men­ta­tors said her de­ci­sion to step down as leader was likely to be a tem­po­rary one.